Cincinnati Reds #30 Prospect: OF Sebastian Elizalde

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The season got out to a nice start for Sebastian Elizalde, going 2-4 with a solo home run on opening day for the Daytona Tortugas. That was followed up with a 1-4 game that also included a walk. Things went south after that. The outfielder would go 0-22 with a walk over the next six games. He would bust out of his slump on the 17th, racking up two hits and a walk to go along with a run and two runs driven in. The next night he would add two more hits and drive in four more runs, but would hit another mini-slump, hitting just .190 over the next six games. Things picked up for the Mexican native in the final week of April, hitting .364 with a .682 slugging percentage. The month was a struggle overall as he would hit just .235/.253/.383 with three walks and 22 strikeouts in 87 plate appearances. The walk rate and strikeout rate were both worse than you’d like to see, but for the league, he showed a decent amount of power.

May got out to a nice start as Elizalde extended his hitting streak to 14 games with hits in his first six of the month before going 0-4 on the 7th. He hit .321 with a double over the first week. The second week was another step in the right direction. With hits in five out of the six games he put up a .364 average with four extra-base hits and a few walks. The following week was a struggle despite having hits in five of the seven games, he managed just six hits (.200) on the week. Over the final eight games of the month he would hit .258 with seven walks and three doubles to put his line for the month at .279/.344/.387 with 11 total walks and 25 strikeouts in 122 plate appearances. He improved across the board, showing a much better plate approach and a good amount of power.

The month of June got out to a slow start as Elizalde went 2-14 (.143) in his first four games of the month, but he really turned things up a notch over the next nine games, hitting .364/.432/.758 with nine extra-base hits. He would only play in nine games over the second half of the month and would struggle some, hitting .226 with a home run and four walks in 37 plate appearances. June would be the second consecutive month of improvements for the corner outfielder as he posted a .269/.352/.513 line in 91 plate appearances with seven walks and 13 strikeouts.

The first three games of July were about as strong as can be expected for anyone as Elizalde went 5-10 with a triple, home run and two walks. Things slowed down the rest of the week though, going just 2-12 with two more walks. The lefty picked things back up the following week, going 9-21 (.429) with three extra-base hits and two more walks. After a 2-4 effort with two doubles on the 15th, he went into a slump, going just 4-24 (.167) the rest of the week with a walk and nine strikeouts. In the final eight games of the month it was hit or miss for Elizalde as he had three very big games that accounted for seven of his nine hits on the week, including both extra-base hits. While July wasn’t quite as good as June, it was still an excellent month where he posted a .301/.34/.485 line with nine walks and 24 strikeouts in 113 plate appearances.

August started out well, with a double header on the 2nd where Elizalde went 2-6 with a double between the two games. Unfortunately he went 0-13 the rest of the week with a walk and six strikeouts as he went through a rough slump. The next week-and-a-half was almost identical, as he would grab three hits in the first two games, then went 0-15 over the next five games. He would finish out the third week of August by going 2-17 (.118) as his slump continued. In the final six games of the month he would rack up two hits in three different games, and go 0-4 in three different games, hitting .250 overall with six strikeouts. The last week of the season didn’t go much better as he went 4-15 down the stretch. After posting outstanding lines in both June and July, Elizalde slumped hard in the final 29 games, hitting just .178/.241/.238.

Overall his season was a good one for Sebastian Elizalde, posting a .707 OPS in a league where the average hitter posted a .650 OPS. He showed off some power and while he didn’t steal many bases, he was successful nine times on ten attempts.

PA

2B

3B

HR

RBI

SB

BB

K

AVG

OBP

SLG

525

28

5

10

77

9

39

107

.253

.310

.397

Scouting Report

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Hitting | Elizalde can use the entire field, but he’s got a below-average hit tool in the long run. He’s got decent plate coverage, but can be gotten out on the outer third of the plate.

Power | While most of his power is to the pull side, he’s got average home run potential, with mid-to-high teen home run totals not out of the question in the future.

Running | Elizalde is a fringe-average runner. He’s got a little bit of speed once he gets going.

Arm | He shows an average arm that can handle left or right field.

Defense | He’s a corner outfielder, where he’s a solid defender, but isn’t going to wow you with his range.

Nothing jumps out to you when you watch Sebastian Elizalde. He’s not particularly good at any given skill, but he’s not particularly poor anywhere either. He’s able to play both corner outfield spots and has some time at first base, so there is some position flexibility there, albeit limited to corner spots. As a left handed hitter, he’s struggled against left handed pitching, which likely limits him to somewhat of a platoon player. Still, he’s got a rounded skillset for the most part that fits the profile for a potential nice 4th outfielder.

About The Author

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7 Responses

Would like to see Sebastian challenged with a promotion to Louisville this year. With his summer MexicanLeague experience he has played close to that level before. He seems the type to adjust to the level he is in and will be just as successfull in AAA as AA. He could be a nice bench piece for the Reds by 2017.

Seems that someone jumped the gun on that one a little bit. Phillips wants more money (it’s not saying if he wants an extension, or just a raise on his current deal) to approve the trade is the word still going around.